Lagoon Ecology Mapping
Currently, the lagoon’s floor, salt marshes, mudflats, and islands are severely eroded due to boat traffic and sea level rise.
The history of Venice as an emergent process of groundbuilding (animation stills)
Sections: Existing + Proposed
Current Salt Marsh Protection & Construction: Techniques of dredging, filling, and using rigid edge materials overfill the new salt marsh, compacting the sediment, precluding ecotone formation and necessary overtopping by tidal flux. This results in a monolithic artificial island rather than a fluctuating intertidal ecotone.
Proposed Salt Marsh Construction Techniques: New “lace” geotextile forms a gradient of densities and flexibility across the salt marsh, edge and mud flat, to gradually build the ground through slow accretion and topographical adaptation. Floating wetlands act as wave buffers to protect this new habitat.
Prototypical Plan 1: Giudecca
Giudecca/La Grazia: A new type of floating fondamenta is created on the southern edge of the city, connecting a growing residential neighborhood to its neighboring islands.
Prototypical Plan 2: Certosa
Stretching from Central Venice to the island of La Certosa, includes a floating wetland bridge allows pedestrian access to the greater lagoon, opening and closing with the tide.
Typologies of Venetian lace
Ground Building Lace
Learning from the logic of lace making, this new geotextile consists of both perforated and woven elements, transforming it from a two-dimensional mat to a three-dimensional structure that can be adapted to the specific site condition and build up layers of sediment over time.
Ground Building Lace - model
Floating Wetland Walkway geometric logic
Floating Wetland Walkway
A connective network of floating wetlands and pedestrian walkways buffers against erosion while activating lagoon ecosystems both above and below the surface of the water. The network’s geometry responds to the curvature of the desired connections, creating more or less wetland mass for varying degrees of protection and ecosystem stimulation.
Fisheye Render : wetland root systems + anchoring rope networks create vibrant marine habitat and fish nurseries
floating walkway prototype : cast rubber (waterproof medium), bubble wrap (floatation), mesh fabric (tread), plumbing hose (connection)
Tidal Stairs
New stairs react to tidal flux by extending and retracting vertically, allowing human access to the lagoon and floating wetlands during all times of day. LED lights change intensity with the changing tide.
Night Render
Tidal Stairs and Wetlands Amplify the Experience of Venice at Night
Day Render
Proposed Lagoon Park Landscape
The future of Venice as an emergent process of groundbuilding (animation stills)
